Helping Earth and Environmental Science Programs in Changing Times: Virtual Traveling Workshops and Expanding the Conversation about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

所有的教育都在向更多地依赖虚拟形式过渡。远程教育早于互联网出现，但自新冠肺炎大流行以来，远程教育不得不加速至近乎无处不在。这一流行病突出并加剧了教育系统中的不平等现象，包括获得虚拟学习机会。教育工作者正在努力解决这些不平等问题。NAGT在2020年7月举办了一年一度的地球教育者聚会，并在2020年9月举办了两个虚拟培训讲习班(TW)，从而获得了关于虚拟活动的经验知识。拟议的TW将探索使与会者保持虚拟参与的技术，以及促进就地球和环境科学中不平等和代表性不足的根本原因进行艰难对话的技术。培训工作坊(TW)将帮助TSU、NAGT及其参与的教育工作者和教育机构加强STEM教育，转变地球和环境教育，并培养更多多样化的学生考虑将地球与社会联系在一起的工作和职业--这是美国劳动力的巨大需求。在地球和环境科学领域，缺乏多样性是一个挑战，甚至比其他一些STEM领域更是如此。对地球教育的种族和社会背景的考虑导致了对环境正义的讨论，并有助于吸引来自代表性不足人口的学生进入地球和环境领域。该项目的目标是通过将TW转换为在线形式，将更多的重点放在多样性、公平和包容性(DEI)上，改造讲习班材料和网站，并使主持人为举办这些讲习班做准备，从而扩大机会。每个TW完全包含研讨会参与者的评估，这些评估将有助于确定如何将研讨会中学到的技术融入到设施中。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

All of education is transitioning to increased reliance on virtual formats. Distance education pre-dates the internet but has had to accelerate to near-ubiquity since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The pandemic has highlighted and exacerbated inequities in the educational system, including access to virtual learning opportunities. Educators are struggling with how to address these inequities. NAGT gained experiential knowledge about virtual events when it held the annual Earth Educators’ Rendezvous virtually in July 2020 and two virtual training workshops (TW) in September 2020. The proposed TW will explore techniques for keeping participants engaged virtually and for facilitating difficult conversations regarding root causes of inequality and underrepresentation in the Earth and environmental sciences. The training workshop (TW) will help TSU, NAGT and its participating educators and educational institutions to strengthen STEM education, transform Earth and environmental education and prepare a greater diversity of students to consider jobs and careers connecting the Earth and society --a great need in the U.S. workforce. Lack of diversity is a challenge in the Earth and environmental sciences even more so than some other STEM fields. Consideration of the racial and societal contexts of Earth education leads to discussion of environmental justice and can help to attract students from underrepresented populations into Earth and environmental fields. The project goals are to expand access by converting TWs into an online format, incorporating more focus on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), transform workshop materials and websites, and prepare facilitators to conduct these workshops. Each TW fully incorporates evaluation by the workshop participants that will help to determine how techniques learned in the workshop are incorporated into facilitation.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.